Today, Thursday 7 May 2026, the Minister of National Defence, Nikos Dendias, visited Portugal, where he had a meeting with the Minister of National Defence of Portugal, Nuno Melo, at Forte de S. Julião da Barra in Lisbon.

The official reception was followed by a bilateral meeting and a working lunch.

The meeting included a constructive discussion on the further deepening of the bilateral Defence Cooperation Agreement, focusing on the development of synergies in defence innovation and industry and in particular in the research and development of unmanned amphibious systems.

The two ministers also exchanged views on the cooperation and coordination of the Ministries of National Defence of Greece and Portugal within the framework of the EU and NATO.

The Greek Minister was accompanied by the Director of the F Branch of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, Major General Georgios Panousis, the Director of the D Branch of the Hellenic Air Force General Staff, Major General (HAF) Angelos Kalligaridis, the Ambassador of Greece in Lisbon, Konstantina Kamitsi, and the Diplomatic Advisor of the Minister of National Defence, Ambassador Giorgos Arnaoutis.

During the joint statement of the two Ministers of National Defence to the press, Mr. Dendias stated the following:

“Dear Minister, dear Nuno,

Thank you so much for your warm hospitality, but also for your openness in our discussions today, which reflect the very good relations between Portugal and Greece – Greece and Portugal. During our discussions, we reaffirmed those very strong relations and of course we had the opportunity to discuss the possibility of closer cooperation on many issues. The production in Portugal and purchasing from Greece of transport aircraft Embraer C-390 is one of those. Thank you for having such a positive spirit towards covering the needs of the Hellenic Air Force. But of course this is not the only one. USVs, UUVs, UAVs, innovation, modern technologies, the negotiation of a safety mechanism is something that we talked extensively about and I’m happy that we understand that we can easily find common ground and do many things together.

I have to say that we know very well the proud tradition of Portugal at sea. You have been an empire. One of the most important empires in the history of the world. Your maritime tradition is enormous. So, we can profit from this relationship. We can profit from the discussions, we can profit from the way youths see things going forward, both in the maritime domain, but also in the land domain and the air domain. We could address modern challenges together as friendly countries, as seafaring nations, as partners in the European Union, as allies in NATO. We are together in all those different levels. And I am very, very happy to be here, together with you.

One last point I would like to stress. Greece is very much interested, within the European Union and on the sense that Article 42-7, paragraph 7, which means that one will have to rely on the other in the case that one is attacked, is something that we would like to be more enhanced and more discussed.

Again, I am very happy to be in Portugal today. I am looking forward to my visit to your naval bases, to your air bases, to see what you are doing in the domain of defence and I would love to have the opportunity to host you in Athens.

Thank you very much”.

The Greek Minister then visited the facilities of the 506th Squadron.

On Friday, 8 May 2026, Mr. Dendias will visit the Operational Centre for Unmanned Vehicles (CEOV) at the Lisbon Naval Base, as well as the headquarters of the European Maritime Security Agency (EMSA).